Reuters World News Summary

Ukrainian troops in recent days recaptured four settlements north of Ukraine's second-largest city, said Tetiana Apatchenko, a press officer with the main Ukrainian force in the area. U.N. Security Council to discuss Taliban ordering women to cover faces again The United Nations Security Council will meet on Thursday to discuss an order by Afghanistan's Taliban for women to cover their faces in public, a return to a signature policy of the Islamist group's past hardline rule and an escalation of restrictions.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Ukraine pushes back Russian troops in counter-offensive near Kharkiv

Ukraine said on Tuesday its forces had recaptured villages from Russian troops north and northeast of the city of Kharkiv, pressing a counter-offensive that could signal a shift in the war's momentum and jeopardise Russia's main advance. Ukrainian troops in recent days recaptured four settlements north of Ukraine's second-largest city, said Tetiana Apatchenko, a press officer with the main Ukrainian force in the area.

U.N. Security Council to discuss Taliban ordering women to cover faces again

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Thursday to discuss an order by Afghanistan's Taliban for women to cover their faces in public, a return to a signature policy of the Islamist group's past hardline rule and an escalation of restrictions. U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, is due to brief the 15-member council, said Norway's U.N. mission, which requested the closed-door meeting "to address the increased restrictions on human rights and freedoms of girls and women."

Despite 'fatigue', donors pledge another $6.7 billion for Syria, neighbours

An international donor conference raised $6.7 billion for Syria and its neighbours on Tuesday despite what the European Union's foreign policy chief said was "a certain fatigue" with the conflict there, now its 12th year. The pledges, which aim to help reach the United Nations target of $10.5 billion in 2022, were made at a gathering of 55 countries in Brussels that excluded Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine. Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation".

Analysis-Marcos as Philippine president a boon for China, awkward for U.S

The decisive victory of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the Philippines' presidential election on Monday is set to re-shape the Southeast Asian country's relations with China and the United States as he seeks closer ties with Beijing. Marcos, the son and namesake of the country's former dictator, has long-standing ties with China and is seeking a new deal with Chinese ruler Xi Jinping over the contested waters of the South China Sea.

Sri Lanka protesters call for new government a day after clashes kill eight

Protesters and a key trade group in Sri Lanka called for a new government to take control of the crisis-hit country on Tuesday while the president asked for calm following clashes that claimed eight lives and prompted his brother to quit as prime minister. Sri Lanka has been suffering its worst economic crisis in history, with a severe shortage of foreign exchange stalling essential imports, including drugs and fuel.

Ukraine war fuels food crisis in distant Africa

Zimbabwean security guard Edwin Dapi was already struggling to provide for his wife and four children before a conflict 11,000 km (6,800 miles) away in Ukraine sent global prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer soaring. Now his monthly pay of 18,000 Zimbabwe dollars, worth roughly $55 at the black market rate used at many informal markets, is stretched to breaking point.

Heartbroken relatives protest Mexico's missing on Mother's Day

Karla Rios held up a banner with pictures of her sister and niece at the Mexican capital's monument to mothers on Tuesday - just two among thousands of people in Mexico who have disappeared in recent years without trace, leaving anguished relatives without answers. Rios said her two family members were last seen in 2017, in the northern city of Torreon.

Reuters wins Pulitzer for intimate, devastating images of India's pandemic

From hospitals, funeral pyres and remote villages to a Himalayan hillside, car parks and temples, Reuters photographers produced coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in India that captured the spread of the disease and its remorseless toll. The Reuters team won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for pictures balancing "intimacy and devastation while offering viewers a heightened sense of place", the jury said.

Mexico and Brazil leaders suggest they may snub Biden's Americas summit

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday he would not attend the U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas next month if all countries in the region were not invited, while Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is also likely to skip the meeting, sources told Reuters. The absence of the leaders of Latin America's two biggest economies would be a blow for the get-together of regional heads of state, which is expected to tackle issues from migration to the environment but also showcase democracy in the hemisphere.

U.S. Navy transits Taiwan Strait after China military drills

A U.S. warship sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, shortly after China carried out drills near the island and the second time in two weeks the U.S. military has transited the waterway. The U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said the guided-missile cruiser USS Port Royal conducted a "routine" Taiwan Strait transit through international waters "in accordance with international law".